By Joe Koizumi
Southpaw speedster Akifumi Shimoda (23-2-1, 10 KOs), 121.5, impressively captured the WBA super-bantam belt as he finely floored defending champ Retsuri Lee (AKA Ryol-Li Lee; 17-2-1, 8 KOs), 121.5, on three occasions, though hitting the deck himself once, and pounded out a unanimous decision over twelve hard-fought give-and-take rounds on Monday in Tokyo, Japan.
All judges were of the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC). Takeshi Shimakawa and Biney Martin (ex-Japanese junior middle champ out of Ghana living here) both saw the hot affair 118-109, and Takeo Harada (ex-national junior bantam boss) 115-111, all for the aggressive lefty challenger. The referee was Rafael Ramos (US) who well handled such busy-moving contestants.
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